On the progression of leaching from large particles in heaps

Although heap leaching is by now a well-established technology choice in the mining industry, the process remains limited by low recoveries and long extraction times. It is becoming increasingly clear that the successful application of heap leaching technology will ultimately depend on having a comprehensive understanding of the underlying fundamental processes for optimisation to take place...The subject of this research was, therefore, to understand more clearly the diffusion reaction phenomena of reagents through large particles and to provide true and reliable physical parameters to formulate the relevant modelling approaches to large particle leaching. A combination of standard optical microscopy, SEM, QEMSCAN and X-ray CT techniques has been used for the characterization of crack networks and mineral dissemination in the ore particles, which are important characteristics that determine the diffusion of reagents into and out of particles and the reactions within.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Ghorbani, Yousef

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Petersen, Jochen

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10528

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10528